CONGRESS AND WHITE HOUSE FINALLY AGREE ON BUDGET, 7 MONTHS INTO FISCALYEAR

After two days of intense negotiations and seven months of living with stopgap spending measures and partial Government shutdowns -- negotiators for Congress and the White House agreed late this afternoon on a permanent budget for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1.

Neither side would give details of the deal until they had shared the information with their leaders and colleagues. But the negotiators said the $160 billion spending plan included $23 billion in cuts demanded by the Republicans and $5 billion in increased spending on health, education, environment and jobs programs favored by the Clinton Administration.

Yielding to White House demands, Republicans apparently stripped from the bill environmental provisions that had drawn a veto threat from President Clinton. They also agreed to reverse a requirement that the military expel any person who tests positive for the virus that causes AIDS. That move had also drawn strong objection from the White House. [Page B13.]

"We have an agreement, and I believe that the President will find it acceptable," the White House chief of staff, Leon E. Panetta, said. Earlier in the day, Congress had signaled that they negotiations were moving ahead when it voted for only a 24-hour extension of another temporary spending bill.

Mr. Panetta met with reporters along with the negotiators for Congress -- Representative David R. Obey, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, and Senator Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon and Representative Robert L. Livingston of Louisiana, the Republican chairmen of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees.

Even though the leaders were optimistic that the measure would be passed, none said it would be easy to sell, especially among House Republican freshmen, who have appeared to relish the budget fight with Mr. Clinton.

Mr. Hatfield and Mr. Livingston said they expected to bring the legislation to the floor on Thursday for a vote and each said they expected it to be approved.

"There will be individual differences in the House, but I think what we have is a consensus that most members in the House will ultimately vote for the package," Mr. Livingston said.

Before today, only eight of the 13 bills necessary to finance the Government had been approved. To the surprise of some Republicans, Mr. Clinton from the outset took a hard and unwavering line to protect his agenda, using his veto and marshaling public opinion against Republican budget-cutting measures. In the last two days, the White House position hardened even more.

"This has not been an easy few days to try to resolve these issues," Mr. Panetta said this afternoon. Under the deal, the five appropriations bills that had yet to become law -- covering spending for the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Labor and Veterans Affairs, and the budget for the District of Columbia -- would be lumped into a catch-all measure known as an omnibus bill.

When the House and the Senate approved the temporary spending bill earlier today to finance much of the Federal Government until midnight Thursday, it was the 13th temporary spending bill passed since the fiscal year began on Oct. 1. The House approved the measure on a vote of 400 to 14. The Senate approved the stopgap measure on a voice vote several hours later.

Today, Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Bob Dole, the majority leader, met with the Republican appropriations chairmen and senior budget officers to try to agree on a budget deal to take to the Democrats. On Tuesday night, senior Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees had gone to the White House to discuss the talks with President Clinton and Mr. Panetta.

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Late this afternoon, Mr. Hatfield, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Livingston and Mr. Obey called reporters to the Senate Appropriations Committee offices, where much of the negotiation took place, to announce the agreement.

"We believe we have an agreement on the remaining issues relating to the omnibus bill on appropriations, including both language and dollar issues," Mr. Hatfield said.

Away from Capitol Hill and the wrangling over the 1996 budget, Mr. Clinton and Mr. Dole, the presumptive Republican Presidential candidate, talked briefly today about resuming high-level negotiations over how to balance the budget, a goal both have endorsed.

The two leaders met briefly at the White House ceremony where Mr. Clinton signed the anti-terrorism bill, and, a senior White House official said, met in private for about five minutes for what was described as a "good talk." Mr. Dole reportedly told Mr. Clinton that he wanted to speak to other Republican leaders before committing to the new talks.

Mr. Clinton, Mr. Dole, Mr. Gingrich and senior party leaders from both sides spent 51 hours in budget negotiations at the White House late last year and early this year before the talks collapsed about three months ago.

Mr. Dole said on the Senate floor this evening that he thought the budget deal worked out today was one that deserved widespread support.

"Some will complain that the cuts go too far, but I believe the final analysis is that we will save about $23 billion over the last fiscal year," he said. "That is a lot of money and that is an indication that the appropriations process has worked."

The impasse over the long-term efforts to balance the budget, filled with arguments over Republican proposals to alter the Medicare program and cut spending on welfare, among other measures, led to the clash over spending for the 1996 fiscal year, which began last Oct. 1 without a budget. Since then, eight spending bills have become law, but there have been two partial shutdowns of the Federal Government and, after today's votes, 13 stopgap spending bills.

Uncertainty over the final shape of the Federal budget has complicated efforts by many states to enact their own budgets, which are heavily dependent on Federal money for many programs. In New York State, lawmakers and Gov. George E. Pataki had all but come to standstill in their budget negotiations as they awaited news from Washington. With so few details available tonight, however, it was impossible to determine how the agreement between the White House and Congressional leaders might affect state spending plans.

Among the dozen environmental issues that had stalled the talks was a provision that would extend a moratorium on listing additional plants and animals for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

But the most hotly disputed issue has been a proposal to increase logging in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, is a major proponent of the provision, but the White House has repeatedly warned that it would prompt a veto.